--- description: | The ansible Packer provisioner allows Ansible playbooks to be run to provision the machine. layout: docs page_title: Ansible - Provisioners sidebar_title: Ansible (Remote) --- # Ansible Provisioner Type: `ansible` The `ansible` Packer provisioner runs Ansible playbooks. It dynamically creates an Ansible inventory file configured to use SSH, runs an SSH server, executes `ansible-playbook`, and marshals Ansible plays through the SSH server to the machine being provisioned by Packer. -> **Note:** Any `remote_user` defined in tasks will be ignored. Packer will always connect with the user given in the json config for this provisioner. ## Basic Example This is a fully functional template that will provision an image on DigitalOcean. Replace the mock `api_token` value with your own. Example Packer template: ```json { "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./playbook.yml" } ], "builders": [ { "type": "digitalocean", "api_token": "6a561151587389c7cf8faa2d83e94150a4202da0e2bad34dd2bf236018ffaeeb", "image": "ubuntu-14-04-x64", "region": "sfo1" } ] } ``` Example playbook: ```yaml --- # playbook.yml - name: 'Provision Image' hosts: default become: true tasks: - name: install Apache package: name: 'httpd' state: present ``` ## Configuration Reference Required Parameters: @include 'provisioner/ansible/Config-required.mdx' Optional Parameters: @include '/provisioner/ansible/Config-not-required.mdx' @include 'provisioners/common-config.mdx' ## Default Extra Variables In addition to being able to specify extra arguments using the `extra_arguments` configuration, the provisioner automatically defines certain commonly useful Ansible variables: - `packer_build_name` is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. This is most useful when Packer is making multiple builds and you want to distinguish them slightly when using a common playbook. - `packer_builder_type` is the type of the builder that was used to create the machine that the script is running on. This is useful if you want to run only certain parts of the playbook on systems built with certain builders. - `packer_http_addr` If using a builder that provides an http server for file transfer (such as hyperv, parallels, qemu, virtualbox, and vmware), this will be set to the address. You can use this address in your provisioner to download large files over http. This may be useful if you're experiencing slower speeds using the default file provisioner. A file provisioner using the `winrm` communicator may experience these types of difficulties. ## Debugging To debug underlying issues with Ansible, add `"-vvvv"` to `"extra_arguments"` to enable verbose logging. ```json "extra_arguments": [ "-vvvv" ] ``` ## Limitations ### Redhat / CentOS Redhat / CentOS builds have been known to fail with the following error due to `sftp_command`, which should be set to `/usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server -e`: ```text ==> virtualbox-ovf: starting sftp subsystem virtualbox-ovf: fatal: [default]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "SSH Error: data could not be sent to the remote host. Make sure this host can be reached over ssh", "unreachable": true} ``` ### chroot communicator Building within a chroot (e.g. `amazon-chroot`) requires changing the Ansible connection to chroot and running Ansible as root/sudo. ```json { "builders": [ { "type": "amazon-chroot", "mount_path": "/mnt/packer-amazon-chroot", "region": "us-east-1", "source_ami": "ami-123456" } ], "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "extra_arguments": [ "--connection=chroot", "--inventory-file=/mnt/packer-amazon-chroot," ], "playbook_file": "main.yml" } ] } ``` ### WinRM Communicator There are two possible methods for using ansible with the WinRM communicator. Please note that if you're having trouble getting Ansible to connect, you may want to take a look at the script that the Ansible project provides to help configure remoting for Ansible: https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/examples/scripts/ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1 #### Method 1 (recommended) The recommended way to use the WinRM communicator is to set `"use_proxy": false` and let the Ansible provisioner handle the rest for you. If you are using WinRM with HTTPS, and you are using a self-signed certificate you will also have to set `ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore` in your extra_arguments. Below is a fully functioning Ansible example using WinRM: ```json { "builders": [ { "type": "amazon-ebs", "region": "us-east-1", "instance_type": "t2.micro", "source_ami_filter": { "filters": { "virtualization-type": "hvm", "name": "*Windows_Server-2012*English-64Bit-Base*", "root-device-type": "ebs" }, "most_recent": true, "owners": "amazon" }, "ami_name": "default-packer", "user_data_file": "windows_bootstrap.txt", "communicator": "winrm", "force_deregister": true, "winrm_insecure": true, "winrm_username": "Administrator", "winrm_use_ssl": true } ], "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./playbook.yml", "user": "Administrator", "use_proxy": false, "extra_arguments": ["-e", "ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore"] } ] } ``` Note that you do have to set the "Administrator" user, because otherwise Ansible will default to using the user that is calling Packer, rather than the user configured inside of the Packer communicator. For the contents of windows_bootstrap.txt, see the winrm docs for the amazon-ebs communicator. When running from OSX, you may see an error like: ```text amazon-ebs: objc[9752]: +[__NSCFConstantString initialize] may have been in progress in another thread when fork() was called. amazon-ebs: objc[9752]: +[__NSCFConstantString initialize] may have been in progress in another thread when fork() was called. We cannot safely call it or ignore it in the fork() child process. Crashing instead. Set a breakpoint on objc_initializeAfterForkError to debug. amazon-ebs: ERROR! A worker was found in a dead state ``` If you see this, you may be able to work around the issue by telling Ansible to explicitly not use any proxying; you can do this by setting the template option ```json "ansible_env_vars": ["no_proxy=\"*\""], ``` in the above Ansible template. #### Method 2 (Not recommended) If you want to use the Packer ssh proxy, then you need a custom Ansible connection plugin and a particular configuration. You need a directory named `connection_plugins` next to the playbook which contains a file named packer.py` which implements the connection plugin. On versions of Ansible before 2.4.x, the following works as the connection plugin: ```python from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function) __metaclass__ = type from ansible.plugins.connection.ssh import Connection as SSHConnection class Connection(SSHConnection): ''' ssh based connections for powershell via packer''' transport = 'packer' has_pipelining = True become_methods = [] allow_executable = False module_implementation_preferences = ('.ps1', '') def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs) ``` Newer versions of Ansible require all plugins to have a documentation string. You can see if there is a plugin available for the version of Ansible you are using [here](https://github.com/hashicorp/packer/tree/master/examples/ansible/connection-plugin). To create the plugin yourself, you will need to copy all of the `options` from the `DOCUMENTATION` string from the [ssh.py Ansible connection plugin](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py) of the Ansible version you are using and add it to a packer.py file similar to as follows ```python from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function) __metaclass__ = type from ansible.plugins.connection.ssh import Connection as SSHConnection DOCUMENTATION = ''' connection: packer short_description: ssh based connections for powershell via packer description: - This connection plugin allows ansible to communicate to the target packer machines via ssh based connections for powershell. author: Packer version_added: na options: **** Copy ALL the options from https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py for the version of Ansible you are using **** ''' class Connection(SSHConnection): ''' ssh based connections for powershell via packer''' transport = 'packer' has_pipelining = True become_methods = [] allow_executable = False module_implementation_preferences = ('.ps1', '') def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs) ``` This template should build a Windows Server 2012 image on Google Cloud Platform: ```json { "variables": {}, "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./win-playbook.yml", "extra_arguments": [ "--connection", "packer", "--extra-vars", "ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None" ] } ], "builders": [ { "type": "googlecompute", "account_file": "{{ user `account_file`}}", "project_id": "{{user `project_id`}}", "source_image": "windows-server-2012-r2-dc-v20160916", "communicator": "winrm", "zone": "us-central1-a", "disk_size": 50, "winrm_username": "packer", "winrm_use_ssl": true, "winrm_insecure": true, "metadata": { "sysprep-specialize-script-cmd": "winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{Basic=\"true\"}" } } ] } ``` -> **Warning:** Please note that if you're setting up WinRM for provisioning, you'll probably want to turn it off or restrict its permissions as part of a shutdown script at the end of Packer's provisioning process. For more details on the why/how, check out this useful blog post and the associated code: https://cloudywindows.io/post/winrm-for-provisioning-close-the-door-on-the-way-out-eh/ ### Post i/o timeout errors If you see `unknown error: Post http://:/wsman:dial tcp :: i/o timeout` errors while provisioning a Windows machine, try setting Ansible to copy files over [ssh instead of sftp](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html#envvar-ANSIBLE_SCP_IF_SSH). ### Too many SSH keys SSH servers only allow you to attempt to authenticate a certain number of times. All of your loaded keys will be tried before the dynamically generated key. If you have too many SSH keys loaded in your `ssh-agent`, the Ansible provisioner may fail authentication with a message similar to this: ```text googlecompute: fatal: [default]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: Warning: Permanently added '[127.0.0.1]:62684' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.\r\nReceived disconnect from 127.0.0.1 port 62684:2: too many authentication failures\r\nAuthentication failed.\r\n", "unreachable": true} ``` To unload all keys from your `ssh-agent`, run: ```shell-session $ ssh-add -D ``` ### Become: yes We recommend against running Packer as root; if you do then you won't be able to successfully run your ansible playbook as root; `become: yes` will fail. ### Using a wrapping script for your ansible call Sometimes, you may have extra setup that needs to be called as part of your ansible run. The easiest way to do this is by writing a small bash script and using that bash script in your "command" in place of the default "ansible-playbook". For example, you may need to launch a Python virtualenv before calling ansible. To do this, you'd want to create a bash script like ```shell #!/bin/bash source /tmp/venv/bin/activate && ANSIBLE_FORCE_COLOR=1 PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 /tmp/venv/bin/ansible-playbook "$@" ``` The ansible provisioner template remains very simple. For example: ```json { "type": "ansible", "command": "/Path/To/call_ansible.sh", "playbook_file": "./playbook.yml" } ``` Note that we're calling ansible-playbook at the end of this command and passing all command line arguments through into this call; this is necessary for making sure that --extra-vars and other important ansible arguments get set. Note the quoting around the bash array, too; if you don't use quotes, any arguments with spaces will not be read properly. ### Docker When trying to use Ansible with Docker, you need to tweak a few options. - Change the ansible_connection from "ssh" to "docker" - Set a Docker container name via the --name option. On a CI server you probably want to overwrite ansible_host with a random name. Example Packer template: ```hcl { "variables": { "ansible_host": "default", "ansible_connection": "docker" }, "builders":[ { "type": "docker", "image": "centos:7", "commit": true, "run_command": [ "-d", "-i", "-t", "--name", "{{user `ansible_host`}}", "{{.Image}}", "/bin/bash" ] } ], "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "groups": [ "webserver" ], "playbook_file": "./webserver.yml", "extra_arguments": [ "--extra-vars", "ansible_host={{user `ansible_host`}} ansible_connection={{user `ansible_connection`}}" ] } ] } ``` Example playbook: ```yaml - name: configure webserver hosts: webserver tasks: - name: install Apache yum: name: httpd ``` ### Troubleshooting If you are using an Ansible version >= 2.8 and Packer hangs in the "Gathering Facts" stage, this could be the result of a pipelineing issue with the proxy adapter that Packer uses. Setting `use_proxy: false,` in your Packer config should resolve the issue. In the future we will default to setting this, so you won't have to but for now it is a manual change you must make.